WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest auto club says tolls are increasingly
being diverted to pay for transportation projects and other expenses
unrelated to roadways, bridges and tunnels used by the motorists who pay the
fees.

Chris Plaushin,
director of federal relations for AAA, told a Senate committee hearing
Wednesday that diversion of tolls for unrelated projects undermines the
“user pays” principle behind transportation tolls and weakens public support
for them.

A bill
introduced by New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg would give the
secretary of transportation the power to reject toll increases on highways,
bridges and tunnels that receive federal aid if they are judged to be
excessive.